26 April 2017

Noel Gallagher was asked in a recent interview now that he's sung on a Gorillaz track, will Damon repay the favor and sing on one of your albums?

He said "Well, he was supposed to play on my new record, but at the time I was recording, he was finishing the Gorillaz record and didn’t have the time. Hopefully next time. I’d like to get him to play melodica on something, which is what he was going to do for me on this record."

Damon Albarn has talked about Gorillaz‘s collaboration with Noel Gallagher, describing the track as a “victory lap” and “the ultimate self-congratulatory Britpop moment”.

The two former Britpop rivals worked together on ‘We Got The Power’, which appears on Gorillaz’s upcoming album ‘Humanz’ and also features Savages singer Jehnny Beth.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Albarn said: “At one point, that track was Noel, me and [Blur‘s] Graham Coxon. It was the ultimate self-congratulatory Britpop moment. It was the victory lap, these geezers singing about all the power they had.”

“I went back and opted to doing it like you play something at the end of a film, as the credits roll,” he added. “Jehnny Beth was necessary. The testosterone levels were off the fucking scale.”

Gallagher’s Oasis and Albarn’s band Blur were famously involved in a chart battle during the ’90s, but the pair have since become friends.

Speaking about their former rivalry, Albarn said: “Noel is not stupid. I love him for that. There was a point when they were set against us. And he had the advantage. He was from the working-class band. He was playing up to that and using it very successfully. I found it difficult to counter. What do you say? It’s like when you get called ‘liberal elite’ by right-wingers. The best I can say is ‘Call me liberal, but don’t call me elite’.”

Albarn added of working with Gallagher: “He’s really musical. He’s got a great tone to his voice. I love his guitar playing. And he’s funny as shit. He’s fucking brilliant company.”

Damon previously said that it was “really great” and that Gallagher is “fantastic in the studio”, adding: “It’s nice when you see how someone goes about their business.”

The thawing of the mid-’90s Britpop feud between Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn during their Oasis and Blur days has resulted in Gallagher contributing background vocals to “We Got the Power,” a song on Gorillaz‘s upcoming album, Humanz. In a new interview, the two men talk about how the track came together, with both of them taking shots at Noel’s brother Liam.

“In a sort of lighthearted way, I’d promised Noel he could be on this record,” Albarn told Vulture. “He was always like, ‘I want to be on the next Gorillaz record,’ and I was like, ‘Sure.’ I thought it might be cute, the idea of us singing about the power to love each other. Of course, no one’s asked Liam what he thinks about the song yet. No doubt he’d have a fantastic one-liner about what a bunch of f—ing knobheads we are.”

Liam had praised Blur’s most recent release, calling “Lonesome Street” the “song of the year.” When that fact was brought up to Albarn, he quipped, “Yeah, but The Magic Whip didn’t have his brother and I singing about loving each other.”

Noel had a different take on how he wound up on Humanz. “Damon and I were at a party at [former Clash bassist] Paul Simonon’s house, and we had a very brief, casual chat about doing some stuff together,” he recalled. “I went away on tour for a couple of years, and then somebody called me and said, ‘Would you be up for working on the new Gorillaz record?’ I said, ‘If you can make the time work, I’m up for it.’ It all went quiet again for ages. And then, one day, out of the blue, one of his people called one of my people and asked what was I doing next week. I just happened to have a week off, and I was in London.”

However, they agree that recording it required two sessions, and that they spent part of it discussing soccer (Albarn supports Chelsea and Noel is famously a Manchester City fan). Also, neither of them is too concerned with how Liam would react to “We Got the Power.”

24 April 2017

Noel Gallagher has teased the release date of his long-awaited new album.

The former Oasis man has been working on his third album with the High Flying Birds, the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Chasing Yesterday‘, with producer David Holmes – revealing last year that the album would be finished by June.

Now, he’s given fans an update on the long-awaited record. Appearing this weekend on Russell Brand’s Radio X show, Gallagher said “I believe it’s slated for a November release”. When pushed for a song title, he said “there’s one just called instrumental number three”.

Speaking to NME in April 2016, Noel revealed that for his third solo record he’ll be mixing things up in the creative process. “I am doing something different this time, to amuse myself – I am writing in the studio for the first time. As a rule I’ve not allowed myself to go in with any completed songs, so I am writing in there, it’s happening all around me during the day.”

“Usually I’ll go in, play a song, record an acoustic version of it and then I’ll think of something and we’ll head toward it. Everything we do is a forward motion toward that point. When you’re writing in the studio you don’t know where you’re going, so the flavour of it all can constantly shift. It’s a bit chaotic but the end results are great so far.”

Last year, producer David Holmes told Gigwise: “People are going to be surprised. I think people love Noel and they’re desperate for him to make a really big, bold, uptempo beast of a record – a lot of Noel’s music is quite mid-tempo. This one is quite fun.”

While last week it was rumoured that Gem Archer had joined the High Flying Birds, Noel will be kicking off a UK and European tour in July to support U2 for the anniversary of ‘The Joshua Tree’ – something that Liam attacked him for, accusing him of ‘brown-nosing’ the band.

The UK’s only 90s radio station Absolute Radio 90s has enlisted the help of its listeners to find the best song, album and year of the decade and with more than 50,000 votes cast, Oasis have been officially crowned number one.

Liam and Noel topped the polls, scooping title of best album and best song. Their second album What’s the Story (Morning Glory) beat Nirvana, Blur and REM to take the top spot, while Don’t Look Back in Anger pipped Common People, Bittersweet Symphony and Creep to win best track.

Absolute Radio’s Breakfast Show host Christian O’Connell said “Absolute Radio 90s listeners have spoken and Oasis have won the lot. Surely they have to get back together now?”

By voting for their favourites across different categories, listeners also chose 1996 as the definitive year of the decade - a very memorable year for the Oasis boys.

1996 was the year that 2.5 million people fought over 250,000 tickets for two Oasis shows at Knebworth, but for the Mancunians it's their two gigs at Maine Road - on April 27 and April 28 - that meant the most.

Not only did it see them raised from a theatre to a stadium band, but it also put them on stage in the football stadium that meant most to them - the home of the team they'd spent a lifetime supporting, Manchester City Football Club.

The infamous Maine Road gigs saw Liam re-join the band after one of many definitive arguments with brother Noel.

Damon Albarn has spoken to Q about working with Noel Gallagher on 'We Got The Power' that features on the Gorillaz new album 'Humanz'

He said "It's like the song at the end of the movie. It went through so many versions. At one point I got carried away and had Graham and Noel and me. It was going back to the glory days of the '90s! It was not working at all, and then Jehnny involved. When we play it live, Noel and DRAM will sing it harmonies together. Now that's progression."

"Some Might Say" is a song by British rock band Oasis and was released on the 24th April 1995.

The song was written by the band's lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. It was the first single to be released from their definitive second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory ? in 1995, and provided the band with their first #1 in the UK Singles Chart.

The track was apparently inspired by the Small Faces and/or T-Rex. It was the last Oasis track to feature original drummer Tony McCarroll, who was asked to leave the band before the main recording sessions for (What's the Story) Morning Glory ? when tensions arose between McCarroll and the Gallagher brothers. The rest of the tracks on the album feature Alan White on drums.

The sleeve artwork, shot at Cromford railway station in Derbyshire, England, features art director Brian Cannon's father with wheelbarrow and his mother with mop. Also pictured are Matthew Sankey, Cannon's aide and Carla Knox, barmaid of his local pub. Liam Gallagher can be seen on the bridge whilst Noel can be viewed with a watering can. Cannon himself rates this piece amongst his greatest works.

The planned promo video for the song was canceled due to Liam not turning up for the shoot. Instead, a makeshift video was created using footage from the "Cigarettes & Alcohol" and US "Supersonic" videos.

B-sides
Aside from the title song, the single boasts some of Oasis' finest B-sides, all of which were deemed worthy to grace the critically acclaimed Masterplan album. "Talk Tonight", is one of many acoustic B-side tracks sung by Noel, and was, at the time, the most vulnerable song he had attempted. It was inspired by the near-breakup of the band in Los Angeles in autumn 1994, when Noel walked out without telling anyone and headed for San Francisco.

The B-side "Acquiesce" was released as part of the Stop the Clocks EP in promotion their compilation album, Stop the Clocks.

In an interview promoting the compilation album, Stop the Clocks, Noel stated that "Some Might Say" is the "archetypical Oasis song' and 'defines what Oasis is". Noel added later in the interview that along with "Some Might Say", its b-side, "Acquiesce", was also the song that defined Oasis.

The song also appears on Stop the Clocks, as do two of the b-sides. Suprisingly, this means that the "Some Might Say" single contains the fourth largest number of tracks to appear on Stop the Clocks of any Oasis release (after Definitely Maybe, Morning Glory and The Masterplan). Therefore, more songs from this single ended up on Stop the Clocks than Don't Believe the Truth (2 songs), Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, Heathen Chemistry (1 song each) and Be Here Now (no songs from this album appear on Stop the Clocks).

"Some Might Say" is a playable track in both Guitar Hero World Tour and The European version of Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades.

22 April 2017

Former Oasis guitarist Gem Archer is rumoured to have joined Noel Gallagher‘s High Flying Birds.

The pair played together in Oasis from 1999 when Archer stepped in to replace Bonehead on guitar. When the band split, Archer then went on to play with frontman Liam Gallagher in Beady Eye until their demise.

Now, as The List reports, rumours are circulating that Archer has joined Liam’s rival band as touring guitarist in Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, sharing his duties with longstanding member Tim Smith. The rumours arose after the band’s Wikipedia page was updated to list Archer as a member from 2017 onwards.

Noel and Gem previously reunited in 2015 at a small show in Lincoln, where the pair performed together for the first time in five years to play Oasis songs ‘Listen Up’, ‘Cast No Shadow’, ‘Slide Away’ and ‘Wonderwall’.

Noel Gallagher’s representatives said ‘no comment’ when approached by NME.

18 April 2017

Noel Gallagher will have a very special guest at his upcoming support slot to U2 in Croke Park – his mother Peggy.

The former Oasis star is determined to bring his Mayo-born mother back to Ireland to see him perform at Croker this summer.

A showbiz source revealed: “Noel is planning on bringing Peggy over with his wife Sara, daughter Anais and two sons, Donovan and Sonny.

“He knows it will be a special night supporting U2 in Croke Park and doesn’t want his mum to miss it.

“Peggy loves coming back from Manchester so it’s a perfect opportunity for her to take a trip home.”

Peggy made an appearance in the recent Oasis documentary Supersonic and spoke out about the strained relationship between her world-famous sons.

“I think there was that bit of ­jealously with Liam and Noel,” she said. “Noel was beautiful as a baby and then Liam comes along – it takes the limelight off you.

“You could tell disagreement was there with them. I was glad they were in a band together. I would not have wanted Liam in a band without Noel.

“But it all happened too quick.”

Peggy, 74, also recalled the day Liam came back with a recording contract. “Of course, I thought ‘this is great’,” she said.

“I never really thought it would go the way it did, though. Liam said: ‘All I want, mum, is to earn a bit of money and get myself some new clothes’. And then it all went haywire.”

Noel will take to the stage on July 8th in Croke Park ahead of U2 on their sold out Joshua Tree tour.

The singer is close pals with Bono and he and wife Sara holidayed with the Hewson family at Eze in the South of France last summer.

Meanwhile, Noel is spending this weekend celebrating his 50th birthday part in New York. And stunning Sara had one hell of a surprise for him when she arranged a private meeting with his hero Gerry Seinfeld while in the city.

Sara posted a picture of a happy looking Noel with the comedian, before later that night posting an image of him at dinner sitting between Sienna Miller and Helena Christensen with the hashtag #ifCarlsbergmadewives.

"Who Feels Love?" is a song by British rock band Oasis, written by the band's lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. It became the second single to be released from the album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, peaking at number 4 in the UK charts when released on 17th of April 2000.

The album was noted for its psychedelic feel, and "Who Feels Love?" was held up as the most extreme example of this. Mark Stent was praised for his production on the song, creating a "trippy" feel like that found on Beatles songs such as "Rain". With the psychedelic and Eastern sound, the song also reminds of George Harrison achievements like "Within You Without You" and also some of his solo work.

However, despite the high-quality production, the song was not well received by the critics, NME said that the production "triumphs over any real sort of feeling... pure mock Maharishi spirituality that not even Liam can salvage from the realm of self-parody".

One of the B-sides is a cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter". It was played live during the Shoulders tour of 2000. Paul Weller recorded a version of b-side "One Way Road" for his covers-album Studio 150 in 2004. The Weller version was subsequently used as the theme tune to Jack Dee's sitcom Lead Balloon.

15 April 2017

'The Hindu Times' is a song by English rock group Oasis, and was the first single to be released from their fifth album Heathen Chemistry on 15 April 2002. It was written by Noel Gallagher. Noel got the name "The Hindu Times" from a t-shirt he saw in a charity shop. The song was the band's sixth UK #1 single, staying on top for one week before being dislodged by the Sugababes' "Freak Like Me".

The title has little to do with the lyrics of the song, which are more in the vein of Definitely Maybe's "Rock 'n' Roll Star". It has been speculated that the title refers to the main riffs' similarity to Indian music in sound, sounding as if they were played on a sitar. Gallagher himself says that it is because he had already named the song before any lyrics were written for it.

The song, which combines the powerful fast rock of their earlier work with the psychedelic feel of their later work, was one of the first Oasis singles since (What's the Story) Morning Glory to receive almost unanimously positive reviews from the critics. However, some fans have criticised the song, stating that the main guitar riff was lifted from the Stereophonics song, "Same Size Feet", which was released in 1997 on their Word Gets Around album and uses the exact same, or at least very similar, guitar riff.

The song was unveiled during Oasis' Autumn 2001 Noise and Confusion Tour. The song was due to be released commercially at the same time but Noel decided the track needed more work done on it to be suitable for release.

The B-side, "Just Getting Older", was written at the time of the release of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.

The demo version of The Hindu Times is radically different from the finished album version. Most of the lyrics (sung by Noel) are different, and the slower sound of the song is much more "grungy", with a heavy drum loop running throughout the song. It is also a semitone higher in the demo.

The "10 Minutes..." documentary is the first part of a unique feature covering 48 hours on the road with Oasis during the Tour of Brotherly Love which took place in the USA with the Black Crowes during May and June 2001.

Take home this stunning Les Paul guitar signed by Noel Gallagher before his performance at the Teenage Cancer Trust's Royal Albert Hall shows.

This Les Paul 2016 T was kindly donated by Gibson and signed by Noel Gallagher before his performance supporting The Who during the charity show at the legendary music venue in March 2017. The guitar comes with a signed setlist of the songs performed that night.

Noel has been a supporter of the charity for many years and has headlined Teenage Cancer Trust shows at the Royal Albert Hall on numerous occasions performing in support of the charity.

Ambassador of he charity, he joined The Who to celebrate Teenage Canceer Trust's 100th show at the Royal Albert Hall.

11 April 2017

"Supersonic" is the debut single released by British rock band Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. It also appears on their debut album, Definitely Maybe. It was released on the 11 April 1994 and peaked at #31 on the official UK charts. It was the song performed by the band on their debut national TV performance on Channel 4's The Word, which aired on 18 March 1994. It remains to this day a favourite song of both the band and their fans (on the Definitely Maybe DVD, Noel cites it as his favourite Oasis song). The single went silver in the UK on June 30, 2006, 12 years and 3 months after its original release.

In spite of its popularity, Gallagher claims the song is basically a collection of nonsense lyrics written in a matter of minutes, just before the band entered the recording studios to record the track. The identity of the character "Elsa" caused some confusion — according to the song She done it with a doctor/On a helicopter/she sniffin' in a tissue/Sellin' the Big Issue. Noel claims, "Someone told me "Supersonic" was about teenage prostitution. Shit!". It has since been revealed that Elsa was a nine-stone rottweiler with a flatulence problem who was in the studio on the day the song was written, hence the line "she's into Alka Seltzer". It was written and recorded at The Pink Museum in Liverpool. The plan was for Oasis to record "Bring It On Down" for their debut single and another bunch of demos. However, "Supersonic" was written and it impressed everyone so much, it was chosen to be the band's first single. Gallagher has revealed in interviews that "Supersonic"'s distinctive lead guitar part wasn't a deliberate copy of the intro to George Harrison's 1971 single "My Sweet Lord". The band recorded two videos for the song, for UK and US release. The UK version of the video features the band playing on a roof, similar to The Beatles' rooftop concert.

It is included on the official music album for Euro 2004, Vive O 2004!

UK MUSIC VIDEO

US MUSIC VIDEO
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Supersonic" at number 20 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Supersonic" at number 25 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever.

Japanese EP ESCA 602
"Supersonic"
"Shakermaker"
"Columbia" (white label demo)
"Alive" (8 track demo)
"D'Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman?"
"I Will Believe" (Live)
"I Will Believe" is believed to have been recorded for a 1993 radio session for the BBC.

The demo of "Columbia" is the same version as was released on a limited edition white label promo in December 1993, which itself was an edited version of the original demo recorded in Liverpool in the spring of 1993.

If there's one thing you can say about Alan McGee, it's that he's a man who speaks his mind.

The former Creation Records boss helped steer Oasis to massive success in the 1990s, but even their former manager doesn't think they should get back together - basically because 'they'd fuck it up.'

He told The Sun that he doesn't think Noel and Liam should put aside their differences and get the band back together. “I just hope they don’t spoil the legend, try and recreate and get back together," he said. "They’d fuck it up. As long as you don’t do that, then they are legends forever. So let’s leave it legendary.”

With Liam on the cusp of releasing his debt solo album and Noel continuing with his own successful career, it's unlikely that any potential reunion might happen soon - but McGee is of the opinion that it should never take place.

"I can’t see it," he said. "They are just in different places. It’s always moment in time. You can’t keep going back to try and be 21 again. You have got to move on, you know.”